New York Lawyer Sues Chance The Rapper Over Sampling: Listen And Compare The 2 Songs

CHICAGO, IL — A New York jazz musician and lawyer is accusing Chance the Rapper of wrongly sampling the composer's music without permission in the Chicago hip-hop artist's song "Windows." Abdul Wali Muhammad is suing Chance for copyright infringement in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Muhammad claims the rapper knew he didn't have permission to use his song "Bridge Through Time" but still used a "significant portion" of it in the single that appeared on Chance's 2012 debut mix tape, "10 Days," which he has self-distributed for free, the report added.

In the eight-page lawsuit, Muhammad claims that when Chance used "Bridge Through Time" in "Windows" he either knew of the copyright infringement or he acted "in willful disregard for whether the song was the subject of the copyright," the report stated. He is asking that the rapper and anyone connected with him be ordered to stop distributing, selling or performing "Windows," the report added. But the rapper and his attorneys "refused to take any action" regarding the claim, according to the Chicago Tribune.

According to the lawsuit, Muhammad wrote "Bridge Through Time" and registered the copyright for it in May of 1979, the Tribune reports. In 1980, the song was recorded by Lonnie Liston Smith, and the website Who Sampled lists Jay-Z, the Dogg Pound, Big K.R.I.T. and others — including Chance the Rapper — as sampling the single for their songs. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for New York City — or your neighborhood. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

Chance has not commented about the allegations. A criminal and civil rights lawyer now, Muhammad had been a jazz musician and composer, according to the Sun-Times.

LISTEN: Here are the two songs in question in the copy infringement lawsuit against Chance the Rapper:

"Bridge Through Time," Lonnie Liston Smith

"Windows," Chance the Rapper featuring Alex Wiley and Akenya Seymour (WARNING: Song contains explicit lyrics)

More via the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune

Chance the Rapper performs at The Budweiser Made In America Festival in Philadelphia in September of 2016. (photo by Michael Zorn | Invision | Associated Press)